Liberal government dismisses calls for radar site to remain as farmland
The federal government is rejecting calls from some residents in southern Ontario to find other spots to set up its planned Arctic over-the-horizon radar installations.
Parliament has received a flurry of petitions criticizing National Defence for buying up plots of quality farmland near Barrie, Ont., for the new radar sites, and calling on Ottawa to preserve the land.
The federal government bought land in Clearview Township for a receiver site, and acreage for a transmitter site in Kawartha Lakes, upsetting local residents.
A government response tabled in Parliament says the project has complex and “inflexible” requirements for things like latitude and the distance between installations, and it has been unable to find other sites that could serve.
The government says the long-range radar will make detecting threats in Arctic airspace faster and easier and is rejecting calls to register the property under an agricultural trust.
Even though it will monitor Arctic airspace, the installations themselves must be built south of the 46th parallel and south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Related stories from around the North:
United States: Alaska-based icebreakers latest U.S. move to reassert presence in North, Eye on the Arctic
Canada: New military sleeping bags not suitable for ‘typical Canadian winter’: Canadian Army, CBC News
Denmark: Denmark’s Arctic, North Atlantic focus: Canada among new defence attaché posts, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: NATO to set up northern land command in eastern Finland, Reuters
Iceland: RAF Squadron begins NATO airspace patrols in Iceland, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: Military experts suspect sabotage at Andøya in Arctic Norway, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Murmansk region of Arctic Russia targeted in drone attack, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Sweden will lead NATO troops in northern Finland, The Independent Barents Observer
